Habitat

Great fruit-eating bats are mostly tree dwelling, roosting in tree cavities or on branches. Great fruit-eating bats have dispersed to urban areas, however, where they may roost in buildings. Great fruit-eating bats will roost above ground from 2.7 to 28 m in tree canopies and also inhabit caves. (Morrison, 1980; Oprea, et al., 2007)

Physical Description

Great fruit-eating bats belong to the family Phyllostomidae, a family of "leaf-nosed bats", who have a "horn" projection from the nose. Great fruit-eating bats are one of the largest fruit eating canopy bats, with a long wingspan used to travel long distances in search of fruit among the canopies and trees.
Great fruit-eating bats have an average body mass of 65.9 g, body width of 4.5 mm, and a single wing length of 23.0 mm. These bats have light to dark brown fur. (Stockwell, 2001)

Reproduction

More research needed to fully understand the reproductive behavior and patterns of great fruit-eating bats.
Great fruit-eating bats vary reproductive patterns regionally. In northern neotropical regions, reproductive patterns are monoestrous, while in southern regions seasonal bimodal polyestry (two reproduction peaks annually during the wet season) is observed. The first peak occurs between June to October and the second from October to March. Some hypothesize that rainfall may also play a role in the reproductive patterns of great fruit-eating bats. (Willig, 1985)

Great fruit-eating bats reproduce twice annually in southern regions and once annually in northern regions.

Range number of offspring

1 to 2

Little information is available about the parental investment involved in caring for the young of great fruit-eating bats.

Parental Investment

pre-fertilization

protecting

female

pre-hatching/birth

provisioning

female

Lifespan/Longevity

Information is not yet available about the lifespan of great fruit-eating bats in the wild or in captivity.

Behavior

Great fruit-eating bats live in groups called harems made up of one male and 2 to 5 females. These bat harems may periodically change in numbers of individuals from 4 to 5 members up to 15 to 20 members. However, each harem has only one male. During winters, most groups consist of 4 to 5 members as food availability may have the largest influence on group size. Great-fruit eating bats typically roost in trees during the day, but changes between roosting areas within a large area ranging from 0.5 to 2.5 ha.
Great fruit-eating bats will change feeding behavior according to moonlight. On nights when full moons occur, the feeding and hovering times decrease. It is hypothesized that great fruit-eating bats do this in order to avoid being spotted by predators like owls. (Morrison, 1980)

Home Range

Communication and Perception

Great fruit-eating bats, like many other bats, use echolocation for orientation and locating food. Echolocation is the process of emitting sound waves and then analyzing the returning echoes to determine food location and nearby obstacles. Great fruit-eating bats are unique as they use scent in conjunction with echolocation to locate fruit. Little information is known about the specific calls of the great fruit-eating bats, but information about the calls of New World leaf-nosed bats, and relatives the, Jamaican fruit-eating bats is available.
Bats differ in intensity and frequency of their calls depending on their diet and environment. (Brinklov, et al., 2009; Stockwell, 2001)

Food Habits

Great fruit-eating bat are frugivores; their diet consist of mainly fruits but they feed on nectar. Great fruit-eating bats demonstrates a group-foraging behavior, where scouts are assigned to locate a tree with fruit and then "report" back to the harem. The harem will later follow the scouts to the tree location for feeding. Great fruit-eating bats remove fruit from trees and take it back to a feeding area. The bats will fly around the fruit, take a bite, and perform a twisting movement to remove the fruit from the tree. Great fruit-eating bats will feed on fruit from several trees, switching from up to 2 to 5 fruit trees in one night. (Morrison, 1980; Oprea, et al., 2007)

Predation

Great fruit-eating bats are thought to have developed harems as a social structure and to help protect against predation, with one male to every few females. Great fruit-eating bats are known to fall prey to birds, such as owls. (Morrison, 1980)

Ecosystem Roles

Great fruit-eating bats play a significant role in the ecosystem. Being a frugivore, the bats disperse seeds from fruit in their fecal matter. However, more research is needed to fully understand the plant species that make up the diet of great fruit-eating bats, in order to pinpoint the specific species of seeds they disperse. Great fruit-eating bats may also serve as a host for parasitic bat flies and mites. (Ter Hofstede and Fenton, 2005)

Economic Importance for Humans: Positive

Great fruit-eating bats are one of the fruit-eating bat species that plays a significant role in the seed dispersal of plants in forests as well as in urban areas. Although this economic benefit is difficult to quantify. (Oprea, et al., 2007)

Economic Importance for Humans: Negative

Little information is available about any negative impacts of this species to humans.

Conservation Status

There are no known threats to the population of this species. Great fruit-eating bats are listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.

Other Comments

In recent years, it has been found that Great fruit-eating bats sometimes experience Alopecia, a syndrome that can cause hair loss. Populations of Great fruit-eating bats in Tabasco, Mexico had a high prevalence of Alopecia. It is not yet known whether diet or hormones are the cause for the syndrome, but more research is being conducted. (Bello-Gutierrez, et al., 2010)

Glossary

living in the southern part of the New World. In other words, Central and South America.

acoustic

uses sound to communicate

arboreal

Referring to an animal that lives in trees; tree-climbing.

bilateral symmetry

having body symmetry such that the animal can be divided in one plane into two mirror-image halves. Animals with bilateral symmetry have dorsal and ventral sides, as well as anterior and posterior ends. Synapomorphy of the Bilateria.

chemical

uses smells or other chemicals to communicate

cryptic

having markings, coloration, shapes, or other features that cause an animal to be camouflaged in its natural environment; being difficult to see or otherwise detect.

diurnal

active during the day, 2. lasting for one day.

echolocation

The process by which an animal locates itself with respect to other animals and objects by emitting sound waves and sensing the pattern of the reflected sound waves.

endothermic

animals that use metabolically generated heat to regulate body temperature independently of ambient temperature. Endothermy is a synapomorphy of the Mammalia, although it may have arisen in a (now extinct) synapsid ancestor; the fossil record does not distinguish these possibilities. Convergent in birds.

forest

forest biomes are dominated by trees, otherwise forest biomes can vary widely in amount of precipitation and seasonality.

frugivore

an animal that mainly eats fruit

herbivore

An animal that eats mainly plants or parts of plants.

iteroparous

offspring are produced in more than one group (litters, clutches, etc.) and across multiple seasons (or other periods hospitable to reproduction). Iteroparous animals must, by definition, survive over multiple seasons (or periodic condition changes).

motile

having the capacity to move from one place to another.

native range

the area in which the animal is naturally found, the region in which it is endemic.

nectarivore

an animal that mainly eats nectar from flowers

nocturnal

active during the night

polygynous

having more than one female as a mate at one time

seasonal breeding

breeding is confined to a particular season

sexual

reproduction that includes combining the genetic contribution of two individuals, a male and a female

social

associates with others of its species; forms social groups.

tactile

uses touch to communicate

terrestrial

Living on the ground.

tropical

the region of the earth that surrounds the equator, from 23.5 degrees north to 23.5 degrees south.

ultrasound

uses sound above the range of human hearing for either navigation or communication or both

urban

living in cities and large towns, landscapes dominated by human structures and activity.

viviparous

reproduction in which fertilization and development take place within the female body and the developing embryo derives nourishment from the female.

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The Animal Diversity Web is an educational resource written largely by and for college students. ADW doesn't cover all species in the world, nor does it include all the latest scientific information about organisms we describe. Though we edit our accounts for accuracy, we cannot guarantee all information in those accounts. While ADW staff and contributors provide references to books and websites that we believe are reputable, we cannot necessarily endorse the contents of references beyond our control.

This material is based upon work supported by the
National Science Foundation
Grants DRL 0089283, DRL 0628151, DUE 0633095, DRL 0918590, and DUE 1122742. Additional support has come from the Marisla Foundation, UM College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, Museum of Zoology, and Information and Technology Services.